x- los angeles

i'm been reading an excellent book about the L.A. music scene entitled, "Waiting for the Sun" by Barney Hoskins....(highly recommended)

....and this lp was mentioned. i hadn't listened to X in quite some time.......

so today it's my sunday afternoon soundtrack.........

clipd beaks' new LP

another great noise long-player from clipd beaks.....to realize will definitely be in high rotation around the tiny grooves office.........

check out below.

(lp has leaked on demonoid, but you should all buy the vinyl)

To Realize - Clipd Beaks

keep the good music coming, lovepump.......

goner fest 4.....

it goes without saying that goner records has much influence over my musical taste these days....

so i was excited when i finally got around to listening the goner fest 4 cd.......

check it out below....

(and buy any lps by these bands.......they're awesome....)

Goner Fest 4 - Various Artists

where the action is!

where the action is! L.A. Nuggets is the latest installment in the series from Rhino records.

quite a nice mix of SoCal late 60s bands, some of which you'd not ordinarily group into the garage rock scene. the idea is that LA had its own surf tinged flower powered mish mash version of the garage rock sound.....(ie. the association and iron butterfly have tracks, but they fit well. in addition you have real hard to find songs by the likes of kim fowley. so for the audiophile, rhino can do no wrong)

i highly recommend spending the money on this box set (though sadly it's not been issued on vinyl, so you have to pick it up on cd or digitally...)

visit this rapidshare link for the first two discs of the set. the remaining half of the set seems impossible to find on the interweb, but if you'd like to share a link with me, i'd welcome it.

jeffrey novak (of cheap time) - after the ball

Review of Jeffrey Novak's (from Cheap time) New LP
from the Agitreader.com

Jeffrey Novak is the rock underworld’s most adept chameleon. Take one look at the Memphis man’s band history and you’ll see a series of quick genre switches. There was the one-man garage band record under his given name back in 2005, the classic ’77 trash-punk of Rat Traps, and his current, most well-received project, the weirdo pop-punk power trio Cheap Time. And now, between touring and recording with that band, Novak has returned to the world of solo records, stroking all the remaining ’70s fantasies he’s yet to tackle in his oeuvre.

His After the Ball LP arrives with a bit of interesting baggage. Its distribution deal through Matador has made it difficult to track down, the vinyl’s limited pressing of 500 making matters worse. It will eventually be put onto a CD via Jay Reatard’s Shattered Records, but I don’t know if that really helps...(Another 7-inch has been released on Shattered as well--but the future of Shattered Records also seems uncertain.) The artwork is a less than subtle homage to The Slider and Radio City at once, allowing first-impressions to set in even before a listen. And the music is some of the most over-reaching, faux-British period pap I’ve heard in ages.

Somehow Jeff makes it all work. What I like about Novak is his fearlessness while attacking the ideas of his heroes. The guy is willing to lay it all out, straight-faced as far as I can tell, taking on the heavily drugged Syd Barrett drawl (“The Lost Parade”) or the dramatic melodic sequences of Sparks (“Hello, Hello”, “Take Your Friends”), the quaint whimsy of Ray Davies (“Pretty Please”) or the rootsy simplicity of Alex Chilton. Most of the record plays like a demo mix-tape from all of these artists, written and played on piano with sparse bass and drums to accompany some of the tunes. There’s a fine line between homage and imitation; Novak straddles it well, but most importantly doesn’t look back, and he writes in a quick enough manner to keep the naysayers eating dust.

The solo scruff on After the Ball is definitely not the one-man-band we’re accustomed to, but this ain’t “singer-songwriter” material either. On paper it is one of those failed piano-bar glam records you see in the dusty racks and always get burned on. In reality, there’s something memorable about every song, whether it is the bouncy bass lines of “No One Misses You” or the hammed-up guitar licks on “Goodbye for Now.” After the Ball has the look and sound of a lost private press record, and the inconsistencies too (and soon, the price tag). But considering all the things that should have gone wrong with this record, it all ends up so pleasantly right.

click here to snag the hard to find After the Ball lp.

(thanks agitreader. yr words are better than mine.)

home blitz

home blitz is fractured lo-fi garage rock in the vein of ty segall or wavves but with a more 90s indie vibe....

they just released a new LP 'out of phase' which is in high rotation around my apartment......(there's also a previous s/t lp of singles and b-sides)

you can grab both by jumping over to the blog linked below.........

get it now via guineapigwatermelon (thanks btw.)

the zeros

Southern California's answer to the Ramones...catchy late 70s punk rock that everyone should have.......

click here for the zeros 'best of' on bomp records.

garage punk classics - the cramps.

we lost some of my fav musicians this last year...and i'm not talking about teddy pendergrass.

i hadn't started this blog last year when lux interior from the cramps died, but i still miss him very much.......

the cramps are too fun to listen to get all teary eyed about him though.

thanks lux interior, poison ivy and kid congo (and the various other cramps) for making my evening.... just what i needed as i'm getting ready to go out for the night......

click below to grab some of my favorite CRAMPS lps.....which also happen to be some of my favorite albums of all time.......


psychedelic jungle // gravest hits

songs the lord taught us 

date with elvis 

and listen below......

garage punk classics - blacktop

Blacktop was the first post-Gories project for Mick Collins.

While similar to the legendary garage punk three-piece, Blacktop is a clear progression, in terms of musicianship and songwriting skill, for Collins and is also the beginning of his movement towards noisier material.

The band's sound was fuller and more sophisticated, due in no small part to the addition of a bass line and the songwriting input of Darrin Lin Wood (Fireworks, 68 Comeback). While still drawing from a wealth of blues, soul, and mod influences, Blacktop crossed into seemingly new territory, even covering Captain Beefheart's "Here I Am, I Always Am."

I've Got A Baad Feelin' About This, their first album, was recorded on an eight track at a friend's house in Dallas and was released in 1995. Half of the album's tracks, and several other unreleased ones, were assembled and released in Australia as Up All Night. As with the Gories and his other projects, Blacktop released several 7" singles throughout it's brief career.

The band never made it back into the studio, but In the Red Records reissued their debut LP with the bonus material from the Australian release in 2003, comprising everything the band ever recorded.

Too bad they didn't stick around, but Mick Collins went on to form the Dirtbombs, so none of us can be that disappointed........ (thanks to Allmusic,com for the help)

click here to grab I've Got a Baaad Feelin'

leaked LPs.

both spoon's transference LP and the liar's sisterworld LP have leaked on demonoid.  you should grab them both while they're hot.....

it's almost enough to make me forget my week of mourning for jay reatard, almost.

goodbye my friend.

as the internet is awash in the news, you've probably heard by now that jay reatard died yesterday in his sleep.

the news is quite upsetting to say the least. fucking sad.

i was looking forward to his annual spring show in chicago, as he played here at least 3 times a year if not 10......

his music is infectious and every last track he recorded i fell in love with, whether the reatards, the lost sounds or under his own name...... he left a great mess of side projects, seven inches and eps that i plan on collecting for years to come. but it saddens me that there will be no more.

i hope everyone who doesn't know his music takes his unfortunate death as an excuse to check out an amazing musician......garage and punk or rock for that matter will never be the same.....

i love and miss you jay..........

plz....click the links below for some random tracks by my fallen hero........

nirvana cover which may be his last recorded song.

live in austin on halloween 2007

live at reggie's in chicago

hotly anticipated releases of xx10.

here's a small list of late winter/early spring releases i'm looking forward to....some don't have titles or release dates, but all should drop by mid-march.  2010 looks like a promising year.....

clipd beaks- to realize (lovepump)

liars- sisterworld (mute)

MGMT- congratulations (columbia)

mark sultan (or bbq) - TBD (in the red)

woven bones- TBD (hozac)

the dum dum girls - i will be (subpop and hozac)

pierced arrows- descending shadows (vice)

strange boys - be brave (in the red)

disappears- lux (kranky)

ty segall and mikal cronin = reverse shark attack

this is my new jam of 2010. ty segall and his friend mikal cronin (from charlie and the moonhearts) put this lo-fi garage burner out in december, too late to make many best of lists...but it would be there for sure. pick up their reverse shark attack LP on kill shaman at yr local record shop, but until you find it......

click here to download.

hello 2010.

been out of town almost everyday since x-mas eve. but 2010 will hold good things for le blog.

much music reviewing and sharing.

found some good vinyl over the weekend in the twin cities that i must rip for you....some hard to find fleshtones for example.....

anyway, happy new years.